The Alhambra

Friday, February 27, 2009 A Trip to the Alhambra
The Alhambra was a palace, a citadel, fortress, and the home of the Nasrid sultans, high government officials, servants of the court and elite soldiers
(from the 13th to the 14th century). Today, the monument is divided into four main areas: the palaces, the military zone or Alcazaba, the city or Medina and the agricultural estate of the Generalife. All of these areas are surrounded by woods, gardens and orchards. Other notable buildings belonging to a different time period are also included such as the Renaissance style Palace of Charles V, which houses the Alhambra Museum (most of the items are from the site of the monument) and the Fine Art Museum. A visit to the area known as Mirador San Nicolas will give you a spectacular view of the Alhambra from below.

Needless to say I have copied the above description from a brochure but wanted you to understand the importance of what we have seen here in Granada these past two days. We walked up to Mirador San Nicolas yesterday and today we took the bus up to the Alhambra where we spent four hours wandering around and thru this amazing monument.

I first posted my pictures as they take the most time and now want to explain a few of them. Our room mate Hide is the Japanese person whom you see with me with in the kitchen. Such a pleasant young man who hopes to come and visit the United States. The stones… these are the cobblestone streets that we are walking on most of the time… very rough and uneven so most of the time we have our elbows locked to prevent stumbles. I now have 3 manhole cover pictures… wish I had started this in London… but am now trying to get these of the towns that we visit. Thought you would enjoy seeing a picture of Martha and I with and without our “flying nuns” hats.
We were up early for breakfast and out the door by 8 AM this morning as we have Palace tickets for 9 AM and need to catch the bus and be there before 8:30 to reserve our place in line for the Palace. Today’s lunch was a nut & fruit break at the Alhambra and then we shared another one of those fabulous sandwich called a Schaurma, a chicken & salad wrap. Tonight we plan to share dinner, family style, here at the hostel. Yesterday afternoon we enjoyed seeing the Royal Chapel where Queen Isabel and King Ferdinand
Plus two sets of their descendents are all buried. It was very interesting to see… we saw several gypsy people trying to give you free sprig of Rosemary ….if you are foolish enough to take it they will grab your hand and demand to tell your fortunes for 5 euros…. We kept our hands in our pockets and walked right on by them.

Martha was just upstairs to our dorm to get our cheese for a snack and
She said that we have 2 kids already asleep on their beds which means that
They are planning to PARTY tonight and will most probably come in really late.. am going to close now so that I can post this before we get many more
computers using the wireless….. bye for now